Guitar Story
Guitar Story
In 1999, Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) controlled the Gretsch name. Its 4 lines on record were built at Terada Gakki, US custom builder for Gretsch before Fender Custom Shop (location unverified) and Peerless (Korea; city unverified) (Japan, USA and South Korea).[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
A Gretsch guitar from 1999 belongs to whichever era was running on its product line that year. An era is a stretch when the company that controlled the name and the plant that built the line both stayed the same. If you know the line, the table below tells you which version of Gretsch you have. The name dates from 1883[1], 116 years before.
| Line | Controlled by | Parent | Built at | Era | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gretsch Custom Shop | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | — | US custom builder for Gretsch before Fender Custom Shop (location unverified) USAno source | 1995–2003 | secondary[1, 2, 3, 4, 5] |
| Gretsch Electromatic | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | — | Peerless (Korea; city unverified) South Koreano source | 1999–2003 | community[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] |
| Gretsch Professional Collection (Japan) | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | — | Terada Gakki Nagoya, Aichi, Japan[8] | 1989–2003 | secondary[1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 5] |
| Gretsch Synchromatic/Historic | Fred Gretsch Enterprises, Ltd. (Fred W. and Dinah Gretsch) | — | Peerless (Korea; city unverified) South Koreano source | 1999–2003 | community[1, 2, 3, 4, 5] |
US custom builder for Gretsch before Fender Custom Shop (location unverified), Peerless (Korea; city unverified) and Terada Gakki. See every brand each plant built for, and every plant in the same country:
Every numbered marker on this page points here: the document, its grade and the passages relied on. An era is computed, so it cites the facts it was derived from. A fact marked “no source” has no claim attached yet.
See something wrong, or know a better source?